BT chief Jansen gave board ultimatum over chairman's future

Philip Jansen, the chief executive of BT Group, gave boardroom colleagues an ultimatum over his own future that led to the departure this week of the company's chairman, Jan du Plessis.

Sky News has learnt that Mr Jansen told fellow directors of the telecoms giant over a period of several months that he had become frustrated with the speed at which BT was taking key strategic decisions.

The BT chief, who joined in 2019, indicated that he was prepared to resign unless Mr du Plessis was replaced by a chairman who could accelerate the pace of change at the former state monopoly, according to several people close to the company.

Mr du Plessis, one of the most experienced chairmen in corporate Britain, said on Monday that he would leave once a successor was identified.

He has chaired companies including SAB Miller, the brewer, and British American Tobacco, and held non-executive directorships at Marks & Spencer and Lloyds Banking Group.

Mr du Plessis is understood to have accepted the need to appoint a successor, having initially asked Mr Jansen to reconsider his request that he be replaced, sources said.

His exit, after just four years, surprised investors and analysts, coming during a critical period for BT, which faces important regulatory decisions from the industry regulator, Ofcom, in the next few weeks.

The company's shares have languished in recent times, hit by perennial concerns over the size of its pension deficit, the cost of upgrading Britain's communications networks and the expense of auctions for sports rights and 5G spectrum.

Nevertheless, institutional shareholders have been reassured by a pledge to restore BT's dividend and a sense that the regulatory and policy landscape is turning in the company's favour - aided by measures announced in this week's budget.

Reports earlier this week suggested that Mr Jansen and Mr du Plessis had disagreed over the company's strategy, prompting a spokesman to deny that specific claim.

Although the two men are said to have a good personal relationship, insiders said that Mr Jansen had become concerned about the professional dynamic between them and had repeatedly told colleagues that there needed to be a change.

"He left nobody - least of all the chairman - in any doubt," said one source.

"He wants to transform BT during his tenure and he indicated that unless he was allowed to do that, he was on his way."

Budget calculator: Find out if you are better or worse off

The disclosure of what was effectively a "back me or sack me" ultimatum to colleagues highlights Mr Jansen's impatience to deliver rapid change at BT, but is an unusual step for the chief executive of a blue-chip company to take.

Mr Jansen is among the most respected corporate bosses in Britain, having engineered a hugely lucrative improvement in the fortunes of the payments processor, Worldpay - making a fortune for the company's private equity backers and himself.

The Times reported this week that Mr Jansen wanted a successor to Mr du Plessis who was more comfortable with rapid shifts taking place across the technology landscape.

By many measures, BT has performed well during the pandemic, seeing NPS customer satisfaction scores rise sharply even as revenue and profits have fallen.

During the last 12 months, Mr Jansen has talked to advisers about the sale of stakes in BT's wholly owned but arm's length subsidiary Openreach and its Global Services division without ultimately pursuing a deal.

The absence of meaningful corporate action has left BT with a market value of little more than the £12.5bn it paid to acquire the mobile network operator EE in 2016.

:: Subscribe to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

That has left BT's board and advisers concerned during the last year that the company could be vulnerable to a takeover bid.

One ally of the BT chief said the company's future was about driving it more deeply into areas such as cybersecurity, remote healthcare services and connected homes.

Mr Jansen declined to comment when contacted by Sky News.

A BT spokesman said: "Jan's decision is a personal one: after 17 years of chairing FTSE-100 companies, he has decided to retire.

"The board of BT is fully aligned on the strategy and future direction of the business."